Karl Kesel

Karl Kesel (* 1959 ) is an American comic author and illustrator.

Life and work

Kesel has spent most of his professional life initially working as an ink draftsman and later as a writer for the US publishing giants DC Comics and Marvel Comics . Kesel, whose work is mainly influenced by the all-round artist Jack Kirby , is currently working as a freelance writer for the so-called Mercury Studio .

Kesel worked for DC as an ink draftsman since the mid-1980s. Among other things, in the years after 1986 he was commissioned to revise the pencil drawings by John Byrne for the publisher's flagship title, the comic series Superman , using the so-called inking process.

As an author, he first emerged as the author of the series Hawk and Dove , which he co- supervised with his temporary wife, Barbara Randall , around 1990 . This was followed by some backup stories about the young adventurers of the Newsboy Legion for the Action Comics series , before Kesel was hired in 1993 as the regular author of the series Adventures of Superman , which he wrote for almost six years until 1999. As a draftsman, artists such as Tom Grummett , Barry Kitson and Stuart Immonen were added to his side during these years . Together with Grummett, Kesel created the modern version of the superhero Superboy ("Kon El") in 1993, whose own series he was responsible for from 1993 to 1996 and from 1998 to 2001 as an author. Other permanent characters that Kesel created as the author of the "Super" series were the mercenary Stinger, the brutal alien Massacre, the insane Scavanger, the deep sea monster King Shark, as well as the rowdy beauty Knockout and the good-natured colossus Scorn.

From 2000 to 2002, Kesel wrote the Harley Quinn series visualized by Terry Dodson , among others .

For Marvel Comics, Kesel worked on the series Daredevil and Fantastic Four .